Fairy Tales: The Birth of Rapunzel
by YouProbablyDontKnowMe
Summary: After the murder of her mother, Kate Hunter is ripped from her peaceful home in Manchester and thrown into the cutthroat world of assassins and masked heroes, relying on only her wit and her will to keep her breathing. The problem? One of those masked heroes might be her father. REWRITE
1. Prologue

July 16, 2003

Manchester, UK

Alex sighed as she ran her hand through her hair for what had to have been the twentieth time that night. She double-checked her numbers, and then checked them again. The end figures were getting higher and higher each month and soon she wouldn't be able to afford her home.

For a minute, she thought about giving it all up. About screwing her morals and dignity and going to see him. She missed him and despite everything, she still loved him. He would make everything easier, just like he promised. He would keep them safe.

No. She couldn't go back. She was stronger than that. Alex made a commitment long ago to stay as far away from him as possible. She refused to fall back into him like the pathetic woman she once was. She would be strong, if not for herself, then for Katie.

Holding back a yawn, Alex forced her eyes open and rechecked the bills. It would be a tight fit, and they would have to live of diner leftovers and stale bread, but they would make it. Quickly she wrote the cheques. One for the landlord who she hated with a great deal of passion, one for the lady at child services who she bribed once a month to keep her secret and one for Katie's school.

Just as Alex began packing away the papers and sealing the cheques in envelopes, a soft padding sound echoed through the hallway. Turning around quickly out of instinct, the blonde haired woman found herself slightly taken back by the sight.

A young girl with the same deep blonde hair as her mother clad a long nightdress looked up at Alex, frightened and clutching a black stuffed toy in her hands.

"Mummy," the child, Kate, called out, taking a few steps forward. "Mummy I had the dream."

Ignoring the papers and cheques, Alex walked quickly to her daughter's side, dropping to her knees and holding her tight. "Don't worry, Katie. Sweetheart it was just a dream."

The blonde nodded through her tears as her head lay on her mother's shoulder, quickly wetting the fabric that covered it. She sniffed and was about to pull back when Alex lifted her up of the ground. Latching onto her mother like a lifeline, young Kate felt the fear wash away. As long as her mum was here, she was okay.

"Let's get you back in bed, okay?" Fear filled Katie's eyes once again. She shook her head no.

"If I go to sleep, the evil man will come." The evil man was the source of her nightmares. He would come in her dreams and take her mummy away.

"No he won't." Alex assured with a bright smile. "Katie, I'm going to tell you a secret. The Evil Man," leaning in close, Alex whispered to the frightened child, "is scared of me. As long as I'm there, he won't ever hurt you."

And it was the complete truth. Katie always spoke about the Evil Man. She was terrified of him. She said that in her dreams, he would laugh. Alex didn't know how she knew about Joker, maybe she didn't, but Alex swore on her life that nothing and no one would take her child away. This, Katie, was her redemption and no one would change that.

Katie gave a hesitant nod as Alex carried her to her bedroom. Carefully lifting the crumpled sheets, Alex tucked her daughter in, away from all the evil and hatred of the outside world.

She played with her hair, gently stroking it and humming softly to her daughter.

"Mum?" Katie asked just as Alex dropped her hand. "Will you tell me the story? The one about the Princess and the Dark Knight?"

Without hesitation, Alex nodded. She looked into her daughters deep brown eyes, eyes that she had gotten from her father, and started the homemade fairytale.

"Once, long ago in a village not to far from here, they lived a young princess. The princess longed for a love that would share her journey, but she never found a husband. One day, while the princess was leaving her castle, a man tried to take her jewels. She screamed for help and at last the Dark Knight came to her rescue."

Katie looked sleepy but urged her mother to go on. "Soon the Dark Knight and the princess fell madly in love. They were happy and wanted to spend eternity with each other, but the Evil Man didn't like that. Not one bit."

At this point, Alex would have usually stopped, but that night Katie wanted to know how the story ended. That night Alex allowed herself to relive the best and worst days of her life.

"The Evil Man kidnapped the princess and showed no mercy. The princess knew she had to do something, so she escaped and ran away into the night, never to be seen again."

"What happened to the Dark Knight, mum?" Katie asked curiously, as she pulled the blanket further up her body. A small, sad smile made its way to Alex's face at the memory.

"The Dark Knight thought that the Evil Man had taken his love away from him, so he threw the Evil Man in the bad dungeon. The Dark Knight carried on protecting his city, blaming himself for the loss of his love."

"That's silly mummy." Katie giggled. "Why would he blame himself? He didn't do anything."

 _Because he's a stubborn ass,_ Alex thought ruefully. She hadn't seen Bruce in years, 8 to be exact, but she was positive that he had blamed himself for her 'death'

"You have to get some sleep, young lady." Alex scolded gently. Katie sighed but snuggled into the sheets nonetheless. After a few minutes, Alex began to leave.

"Where are you going?" Katie asked, her tiny voice filled with panic.

"Don't worry sweetie," Alex assured, leaning down and placing a small kiss to her daughters forehead. "I'll be right back."

That, Kate would soon learn, was a lie. Her mother never returned that evening and the next morning the young blonde woke to the sound of the screeching sirens of police vehicles.

Alexandria Elizabeth Hunter, Kate's mother, was dead.


	2. Chapter 1

22 September, 2009

Blüdhaven

 _6 Years Later_

Kate ran down the halls, slower than she should have. The young teenage blonde dreaded the meeting but she knew it was for the best, and that she couldn't get out of it even if she broke her arm.

After a few minutes of searching, she found the door. 'Room 126' was written in big bold letters across the top, underneath it the name of a psychologist whom she couldn't be bothered to learn the identity of. He or she would just recommend her some pills that Kate wouldn't take, or send her to a different 'specialist'

There was nothing special about them, if you asked Kate. If the blonde had her way, they would have been ripped off their titles and sent back to high school for even thinking something as complex as the human mind could be understood.

As she pushed open the door, Kate realised unsurprisingly that she was right. In fact this one was probably worse than the last 5 she had encountered in the past four years.

The room was plain and had a few paintings hanging from the walls; the kind you buy in bulk. A secretary sat behind a desk that was wedged in the corner of the room, a door a few feet away. At her arrival, the secretary looked up.

Taking this as her cue, Kate walked awkwardly over to the large desk and smiled politely at the woman. "Um, my name is Katherine Hunter. I'm here for my first secession."

"Ah, Miss Hunter," the older woman smiled almost sympathetically at Kate, "Dr Cooper will be with you in a moment. Why don't you take a seat?"

The only reply she received was a short nod from Kate as she quickly sat down in one of the plush leather sofas. She wondered if Dr Cooper was a man or a woman and dreaded the questions that he/she would ask.

The young Brit didn't have much time to think about that as the doors to Dr Cooper's office slid open, revealing the woman herself, talking with a weeping lady.

Widow, Kate immediately assumed. Judging by her lack of makeup and the dull clothes, her husband had died recently. The heavy looking wedding ring on the woman's hand indicated that they were recently married. Probably bought a new house. Kate had a thing for reading people, but more on that later.

Dr Cooper led the teary woman out the door and into the hallway. She couldn't see much but Kate assumed that the pair said a short goodbye before the doctor turned back to her.

"Miss Hunter, I presume?" She addressed Kate in a kind, sweet voice. The blonde found herself smiling.

"Yeah," she replied with a small nod. Dr Cooper returned the gesture with a smile on her face.

"Shall we begin?" She motioned towards the door that she and the other woman first exited from. Kate wondered briefly if she would walk out the same way, before pushing the thought away. She wouldn't give this lady anything.

The two stepped into the office that had a surprisingly homey feel to it. The smell of cinnamon rolls wavered through the air and Kate found it strangely comforting.

"Please, have a seat." Dr Cooper said with a smile. She had been doing a lot of smiling, and Kate was starting to feel uneasy about it.

"So, let's start with the basics." Dr Cooper declared with a kind tone. Kate wondered if they had thought her that in Med school.

"Sure." Kate un-enthusiastically, leaning back into the chair.

"What do you remember from that night?" Dr Cooper asked seriously; not the kind of serious that was scary, more the kind that returned honest answers. For a second Kate thought about it, before realising what a bizarre question it was to start with.

"Everything." Kate answered simply. Dr Cooper motioned for her to continue. "Um, I remember waking up from a nightmare and my mum telling me a story,"

"What was this story?" Dr Cooper asked again, looking genuinely interested but Kate knew that the doctor couldn't give a flying rat's ass about her life.

Still, Kate told the story.

"It's just this fairy tale about a Dark Knight and a princess." A small, genuine smile came to her lips at the memory. "When I was about seven or maybe six, I was bugging my mum about my dad and she told me that she was the princess in the story and that's why my dad was never around. Because he had to protect his people."

"How did that make you feel?" The doctor questioned, her eyes focuses as she scribbled something down on a notepad. "Not having a dad around?"

"I didn't notice it when I was little. I believed my mum when she said he was the man in the story." Kate answered looking down. "But after," she paused, her throat suddenly dry. "After it happened, I didn't really care, you know? When I started living with James, he became my dad. I didn't care about the man in the stories."

"James is your mother's old boyfriend, correct?" Even though the doctor knew she was right, Kate nodded. "And how does it make you feel, living with him I mean?"

"You've been asking a lot of questions about how I feel." Kate mumbled bitterly, immediately going into defensive mode.

"I guess I have." Dr Cooper replied brightly, her skin glowing. Kate took this as a retreat and let it go.

"Kate, I'm going to show you some pictures and you're going to tell me the first thing that pops into your head, okay?" The blonde nodded and Dr Cooper picked up a deck of cards with ink blobs sprayed on them.

"What do you see?"

"A blob of ink."

"No Kate, look closer."

"I still see a blob of ink."

"Okay." Dr Cooper sighed, sitting up straight. "We're going to have to try this differently." Kate thought that if she had that little patience than she shouldn't be a psychologist in the first place.

"I'm game." Kate shrugged nonchalantly, though she really _really_ wanted to get out of the office.

"Alright, when I say a word I want you to tell me the first memory that comes to mind."

Her eyebrows rose at this. She had heard of saying the first word that came to mind, but never the first memory. Feeling a little more than uncomfortable, Kate nodded a little reluctantly. The therapist just smiled.

"Happy."

"The day my mum gave me her pendant. She told me that it belonged to her mother and that it was a family tradition to hand it down to your first born daughter."

"Sad.

"The night of the accident."

"Good."

"James and I when I first came to live with him in Blüdhaven."

"Evil"

At this Kate hesitated. The first thing that came to mind was The Evil Man of her dreams. It was childish and stupid, but she knew that she was still afraid of him. She was 15 God damn it! A silly dream shouldn't make her feel like someone had kidnapped her.

"Watching a horror movie with James. It was the night before my first day at school and I wanted to get along with people. The movie was the new 'it'. I thought I could handle it."

"You seem to be talking a lot about James." Dr Cooper said, her face rid of all emotions. Kate raised an eyebrow at her question. What the Hell was this lady getting at?

"Yeah, he is my dad." Kate said suspiciously.

"Kate, would you consider James to be the man of the house?" Dr Cooper asked cautiously, like she was touching something she didn't want to.

"If by man, you mean main source of income than yes." Kate replied, not thinking much of her words. "He buys the milk and bread, and pays the light and rent. "

"That's not what I mean." Dr Cooper reassured, "I mean is he the only male in the house?"

"Then yes." Kate nodded.

"Miss Hunter has James ever tried to force you into any sexual behaviour?"

Kate blinked and stared at Dr Cooper with a shocked expression. Her throat went dry and her lips felt like they couldn't separate. After a full two minutes of being completely shell shocked all she could say was, "What?"

"It is very common in cases like your own. It's nothing that you should be ashamed to talk about, especially with your psychologist."

Kate just continued to stare, her mouth a gape. "What the actual fuck?!"

"Has the affair been going on since or before your mother death?" She asked as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Kate screeched, sitting up abruptly and beginning to pace. "There is nothing, nor will there ever be anything 'going on' between me and my dad."

Dr Cooper looked unfazed by Kate's outburst and continued to stare at her with sharp, judgmental brown eyes. "Why don't you sit back down, and we-"

"Oh no, no, no, no, no. _'We'_ are not doing anything. Good day Dr Cooper. I hope I never see you again."

And with that, Kate stormed out of the office and into a waiting room, scaring the crap out of the secretary and an elderly man sitting in the corner.

"Don't waste your time." She advised before running out the door, into the hallway and out of the building.

How dare she?! What the hell was wrong with her?! What kind of a sick psychopath fucks their dad?!

Kate didn't even realise where she was going until she found herself walking through the doors of a familiar gym. Her Chuck Taylor's squeaked against the hardwood floor and her hooded sweatshirt felt too thick. She needed to let off some steam.

"I thought you had an appointment." Her friend, Danny greeted standing a few feet from the ring. Kate walked up to Danny and patted him on the shoulder.

"Me and you." She deadpanned. "One on one."

"You think you can handle it, Hunter?" He mocked, holding back laughter at Kate's extremely pissed off expression.

"Shut up and fight." Kate snapped, irritated and frustrated at, at just everything.

Walking over to one side of the ring, Kate pulled off her sweatshirt and dumped it on the floor, revealing a black Nike sports bra. Then she pulled her hair from its bun and let it fall to the floor.

And Kate had a lot of hair. Like, _7 feet of it_ , literary.

Pulling her very, very long hair into messy braids, Kate pulled on a pair of boxing gloves; there was always one in the ring corner.

"You okay?" Turning around, she realised it was Danny who asked the ridiculously stupid question. He was standing on the other side of the ring, gloves at the ready, but he looked uncertain.

She growled a response and motioned for him to come at her. When he hesitated, she charged forward and threw the first punch.

Danny barely blocked the blow, moving to his right. Kate threw five solid right hooks before Danny caught her arms in a tight hold.

"Cool it Kate." He deadpanned. Kate tried not to think of how close they were, our how his body was pressing up against hers. "You're not even fighting, you're just lashing out."

Rolling her eyes, Kate did what she had been taught. She hooked her ankles around his and yanked her foot back, pulling him down to the ground with her. As soon as they were off their feet, Kate straddled his waist and pinned his wrists down

"I win."

xxxxxxx

September 23, 2009

Gotham City

Running a hand through his hair, Bruce wondered how the _hell_ he had been so careless. Eight years. He had those papers for eight years but he didn't even know it was there. The box had been delivered after Alex's funeral; after the reading of her will and Bruce didn't so much as look at it.

It had been too painful then and he thought that it would be full of love notes and maybe her grandmother's necklace. Never would he have thought that this was what lay in the box of memories his dead beloved left to him.

It was a simple letter, but it changed everything. One and a half pages of black on white that changed his life.

Dear Bruce,

It's raining as I write this. You probably don't know that, since you're halfway across the USA, or maybe you do. You always took so much precaution. The rain always reminds me of you; it was our favourite type of weather. Do you remember when we would sit in my room, right next to the window, watching the rain? Do you remember when we would talk on the phone during a thunderstorm, though neither one of us was scared? I do.

Even though I remember it all, it hurts for me to think of it. The rain used to make me feel happy and warm; now it makes me depressed, cold, and alone. But… that's what I am. So I guess that fits perfectly.

I guess I should get to the point of this letter. Truth is Bruce... I was alive. I was alive for a lot longer than you think. I had to get away. I'm sure you're pretty pissed off right now, reading this, and I'm sure that your stupid brain is already making up scenarios that don't exist as to why this is your fault, which it isn't. I don't want you to blame yourself, Bruce. I want you to smile for me, to be strong, but I know you too well; better than you know yourself, Wayne.

Do you remember what happened the day before I left?

We were at the beach, just the two of us; we were walking on the sand and you proposed, Bruce. You got down on one knee and proposed, asking me if I would marry you and I said yes. I smiled and laughed that day and cried; but happy tears. Remember how happy we were and how scared you were that Alfred would kill you for marrying his niece? I do.

Even though we'll never get married, never grow old together, remember I love you and always will. Even though I won't see you for a very long time know that right now, I'm smiling and laughing up top in heaven watching you; and you'll join me someday, just not soon, hopefully.

I'm sorry for leaving Gotham. I know you needed me, but the truth is someone else needed me more. I love you, Bruce. I really do but now it's time to give my love to someone else. Someone who I hope will cherish it and hold it tight, the way you did. Her name is Kate. She's our daughter.

Bruce… I know you're probably not happy, and I know you will probably forget about me but please don't forget about her.

That last sentence wasn't supposed to make you feel bad, but it is the truth.

I've left her, our daughter, with someone I care deeply about. I love him, but he isn't her father. One day, I hope you take her in, show her the way. Be gentle with her. She's all you will ever have left of me.

This paragraph will be the last, the most heartfelt. Like you always said, save the best for last. I miss you. I miss your smile, your laugh, your eyes, your lips, your everything. I miss the nights when it rained and we were together. I miss the dances that we went to together. I miss the water balloon fights, and the photo booth pictures, and the parties we went to. I miss that we could act like complete children when we around each other. I just, I miss you.

And guess what. I still love you.

Love always

Alexandria Hunter

Bruce dropped the letter when he heard footsteps approaching. They were soft, light. Dick.

Surely enough, the young raven-haired boy entered Bruce's personal study, seconds later clad in expensive blue pyjamas, blue eyes wide and scared.

"What is it, Dick?" Bruce asked cautiously when his partner stepped in. Dick looked embarrassed, a hand going to rub his neck in question.

"I was just worried when you didn't come in."

Bruce smiled. Not the fake, flirtatious smile he shot the media and staring woman, a genuine smile that he knew only his son could get out of him.

"I'm alright, Dick."

The tired boy smiled back and yawned before waving Bruce goodbye and walking out of the study, the room filling with silence as if the 12-year-old acrobat hadn't even been there. Bruce stared at the closed door and wondered.

How could he bring another child into this? How could he ruin another life?


End file.
